Chapter 5: Impact on the South Sudanese and Wider Australian Communities

Within the Australian context, there is significant research documenting the challenges faced by incoming African settlers (Abur & Spaaij, 2016; Baak, 2019; Chivaura, 2019; Forrest & Dunn, 2013; Khan & Pedersen, 2010; Udah & Singh, 2019; Windle, 2008). While various support services can be accessed in the three to five years post arrival, it is clear that the challenges of settlement can continue long past the settlement period (Maher, 2018). The process of needing to adapt to new legal and social systems, navigate new cultures and access education and employment is common to many incoming immigrants, but there is an additional layer of complexity and difficulty for refugee immigrants that further compounds the upheaval of relocation. For new residents from a South Sudanese background, there have been accompanying experiences of racism, profiling and discrimination that intensify the challenges of the migration experience.